


five times quistis hit seifer, and one time she didn't

by eva_cybele



Category: Final Fantasy VIII
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-20
Updated: 2013-10-20
Packaged: 2017-12-29 22:35:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,426
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1010927
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eva_cybele/pseuds/eva_cybele
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A series of snippets from Quistis's life, centering around a certain professional pain-in-the-ass named Seifer Almasy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	five times quistis hit seifer, and one time she didn't

I.

Seifer was always teasing Zell, relentlessly, mercilessly. More often than not, the day ended with Zell sobbing on his bed and Seifer being scolded by Matron. Some days, though, Matron was busy – Irvine had been kissing Selphie again, or Squall was inconsolable about losing Sis. Those days, it fell to Quisty to keep the peace. With Elle gone, she was the oldest, the new Sis – and it was her job to make sure Seifer wasn't too mean, by any means necessary.

 

Those days usually ended with Seifer sobbing on his bed and Quistis being scolded by Matron.

 

II.

Quistis's adopted parents abandoned her when she was ten, because the adorable blonde child they had wanted had gotten too big to be cute, and too smart to ignore. They'd tried to return her to Matron, like some defective piece of merchandise. Cid had taken her in, and brought her to his new school. There weren't many children there of her age, but she instantly remembered Seifer and Squall, the two most troubled boys at Matron's Orphanage. Time hadn't improved them – if anything, Seifer was more angry, Squall more sullen.

 

Seifer remembered “bossy little Quisty” well, and followed her around, tormenting her. Quistis ignored him, until one day a jab about not being wanted hit a little too close to home.

 

She found herself standing over a fallen Seifer, knuckles stinging, screaming about how no one loved him, either.

 

III.

After that, an uneasy truce settled between the two, which slowly developed into a friendly rivalry as they began to outstrip every one of their classmates.

 

Seifer and Quistis were assigned to the same team on their first SeeD field exam. They were both fifteen, the youngest students to ever qualify. Quistis followed orders to the letter; Seifer flouted them at every opportunity, choosing his own path. Quistis passed. Seifer didn't.

 

He went to her room that night as she was getting ready for the SeeD ball – something she had always expected to face with Seifer as her date, their friendship and rivalry surviving the exam and continuing on into adulthood. It had become a constant, a touchstone in her turbulent young life, and its loss infuriated her.

 

So when Quistis saw those green eyes, filled with frustration, she slapped him and told him to get out of her room. He was better than he'd shown in the exam. He'd disappointed her, just like everyone else in her life had. His face contorted with fury, but he left without saying a word. Quistis didn't know if that made it better or worse.

 

IV.

They didn't speak after that, and Quistis threw herself into training to become an instructor. If she had a goal to strive for, there was no need for a rival. Seifer appeared to disagree, and his former sibling-like relationship with his roommate, Squall, started to turn ugly. They began to acquire a reputation as a few of Garden's bigger troublemakers. Quistis managed to ignore them both until her first year of teaching. As luck – or more likely, those jerks in the scheduling department – would have it, both of them ended up in her homeroom.

 

Quistis didn't know how to handle Seifer – how was she supposed to teach someone who she had once considered an equal? So she focused her efforts on Squall, and watched Seifer become more and more outrageous in his attempts to get her attention. He'd never liked being passed over, especially in favor of a rival.

 

It all came to a head one day when he caught her after class, pressed her up against a wall, and asked her if she'd learned any new “tricks” with her whip in the past two years. He was smirking, but there was anger in his eyes. She slammed her knee into his groin and told him to keep his hands off her unless he wanted a week's worth of detention.

 

Students started calling her the “Ice Bitch” after that, and telling lewd stories about her supposed dominatrix fetish. She didn't question where it all stemmed from. The fan club that formed after that made her a little confused, though.

 

V.

He was fishing. The world had ended and started again, with him as one of the major pieces in the game, and he was fishing. The sight was so contradictory with her memories of Seifer, both before and after Ultimecia ensnared his mind, that she stopped and stared.

 

He caught her doing it and glared, still as stubborn and defiant as always. The sight made her feel oddly comforted – maybe some things don't change, after all. She walked over to him, intent on inviting him back to Garden. It was still his home, no matter what terrible things he'd been made to do. If Squall had a problem with it, he could deal with her.

 

“What's the matter, Quisty? Get tired of Rinoa intruding on your oh-please-fuck-me-Squall fantasies and decide to come see what a real man could offer you?” The jibe sounded tired, half-assed, mechanical. Quistis slapped him anyways, out of a mixture of habit and anger that he could sound so...defeated. She walked away, a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach.

 

Two weeks later, he was in the back row of her new homeroom class, looking more determined and serious than she'd ever seen him.

 

VI.

Seifer was twenty years old, taking the SeeD Exam for the very last time, and he passed. Quistis was out on the balcony when he found her, looking handsome and proud in his new uniform.

 

Quistis smiled faintly. “We're a bit older than I thought we'd be at our first SeeD Ball.”

 

He leaned back against the railing, arms crossed. “Better late than never, right?”

 

She smiled and stared out at the rolling hills of Balamb, stretched out in front of her. “Mm. I guess so.”

 

“Now I finally get to do something that I've been waiting on for five years.”

 

She tipped her head and gave him her best smirk. “Really, Seifer, you didn't have to wait five years to get me a drink. You could've done that any time.”

 

Something in his eyes told her that she wasn't the greatest at teasing, but he appreciated the attempt. She had always been good at reading him. “Quisty, has anyone ever told you that you talk too damn much?”

 

She grinned. “Oh, a few people.”

 

He pushed himself up off the railing and glared at her, but there was no anger in it. “Then do me a favor, and _shut up already_.”

 

He grabbed her wrist, pulled her to him, and kissed her hard on the mouth.

 

Seifer had caught her off-guard, but she soon relaxed into the kiss – into him. When he finally pulled away, there was a look in his eyes that she normally only got from her Trepies, and certainly never before from him: nervousness.

 

Quistis unconsciously licked her lips and blinked up at him. “You wanted to do that for five years?”

 

He nodded. “Yeah.”

 

She cocked an eyebrow and tilted her head, trying to cover her confusion with cool amusement. She didn't think it was working. “Why'd you wait so long?”

 

He grinned and stuffed his hands into his pockets. “It was going to be my present to you. Y'know, for being as awesome as me and passing the exam. But then you hit me and threw me out of your room.” His smile faltered and he slipped into an oddly serious expression. “After that, you went around thinking you were too good for me, so I might've acted like an ass a time or two. Well, now I'm a SeeD – even if I did get a little...side-tracked along the way. Gonna hold it against me, Trepe?”

 

A faint smile touched her lips. He was an ass, no question about it, and she wasn't sure she'd forgiven him yet for everything he'd said and done, but... “No, I don't think I will.”

 

“Good. Because there was more that I've been wanting to do.” His thumb traced her jawline, and his cocky smile slipped back into place, like the vulnerability had never even been there.

 

“I knew there was a reason you started those stupid dominatrix rumors.” She cocked an eyebrow and grinned, loading her voice with so much suggestion that she almost worried she had spontaneously transmogrified into Irvine.

 

He rolled his eyes. “Hyne, woman, do you _ever_ shut up?”

 

“Looks like you'll have to make m- mmf!” She laughed against his mouth and kissed him back.


End file.
